Missing Fisherman’s Body Found in 1 of 2 Crocodiles Euthanized During the Search; Can Crocs Swallow a Human Whole?

The Queensland officials have been searching for a missing fisherman's body and may have already found the answer. A body was found in one of the two giant crocs they euthanized during the search.

Body Found Inside a Crocodile

In a previous report from Science Times, two giant reptiles were euthanized Monday while the officers continue to search for Kevin Darmondy, who disappeared Saturday while fishing in Kennedy River. They said they would give an update after conducting necropsies.

Human body parts were found in one of the crocodiles. However, wildlife officers were convinced that both were involved in the attack, BBC reported.

Police said it was a "tragic ending" for Darmody. A formal identification process will be carried out.

Darmody was an experienced fisherman. He is a well-known member of the community in Cape York.

Darmondy had some companions when he was fishing. However, they didn't notice the attack and only heard him yell before a loud splash.

Due to the incident, his pals speculated that a giant croc attacked and dragged him into the water. One of his friends John Peiti told Cape York Weekly that he raced down but saw no sign of him. He only saw his flip-flops on the bank and nothing else.

BBC noted that a fisherman was also killed in the same manner in 2021. There were also fatal attacks reported in 2016 and 2017.

The two crocodiles were shot dead. In Queensland, crocodiles are considered problematic when they threaten public safety. In rare cases, they are euthanized.

Can Crocodile Swallow Humans Whole?

Yes, crocodiles may be able to swallow humans whole, but this was two to four million years ago in Kenya. According to a University of Iowa researcher, there was once an enormous crocodile in East Africa that could swallow humans whole.

Christopher Brochu, an associate professor of geosciences, claims that it is the largest genuine crocodile ever discovered. It might have been longer than 27 feet, ScienceDaily reported.

The largest Nile crocodile ever seen was smaller than 21 feet, while the majority are much smaller. The Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology's May 3 issue just featured Brochu's study on the discovery of a new crocodile species.

Between 2 and 4 million years ago, a new species existed in Kenya. It was larger than the Nile crocodile, its living cousin, but otherwise similar.

According to Brochu, it likely consumed our ancestors as it coexisted with them. He argues that although there is no indication of human-reptile interactions in the fossils, crocodiles typically consume everything they can fit in their mouths and that people in that time would have been no taller than four feet.

However, there is no fossilized human remains with crocodile bites since the crocodiles were larger than they are today and humans were smaller. Thus, there probably wasn't much biting going on, according to Brochu.

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